Clubs not bidding for my players

I am Millwall in the Premier Div, I have been trying to sell players for about a year. They are good players, and I put thier price at a reasonable level to attract bids. No one comes in and bids, or they say that the price is too steep and do not put a bid in. Then I am told that if I put the player up for loan, I might get bids. I want to sell the players not loan them. I have put them on the transfer list to sell them, not to loan them out as I need the money to buy new players. Is any one else having this problem.

It certainly happens, sometimes I just can't move a player. The most common problem seems to be combination of player reputation and current wages. Often smaller clubs don't think a player will be interested or can't meet his probable wage demands. It can be very difficult to move certain players sometimes. I once ended up releasing Drogba from Chelsea as no one would even take him for free and I wanted to free up wages to sign other players.

If you don't want them why should other clubs want them?

The clubs that they would be suitable for how much can they afford?

If you want to sell them lower the price.

If you don't want them why should other clubs want them?

That's kind of a dumb response. Maybe "team A" has a striker no longer needed and "team B" is short on strikers. See how the transfer system works in football? Like in my example, do you really think no one wants Drogba? Of course they do, but the circumstances have to be right. Bayern picked him up on substantially lower wages than he was getting at Chelsea.

I cannot lower the price any lower than £0.

That's kind of a dumb response. Maybe "team A" has a striker no longer needed and "team B" is short on strikers. See how the transfer system works in football?

Exactly, the other teams needs a reason to purchase a player.

So there has to be a need for that type of player at the buying club and your player needs to be competitively priced (Transfer fee & wages) compared to other potential signings for a transfer to occur.

If you can't sell a player you need to look why and change it.

Exactly, the other teams needs a reason to purchase a player.

So there has to be a need for that type of player at the buying club and your player needs to be competitively priced (Transfer fee & wages) compared to other potential signings for a transfer to occur.

If you can't sell a player you need to look why and change it.

Okay then we're agreed. You're other post suggested that if a player is transfer listed and not needed why would any club want him period, that's how it read to me anyway. I take back the "dumb" comment.

Releasing a player is a last resort, but in my case it become the only logical action.

I cannot lower the price any lower than £0.

If no one will take them for free, then I guess your only option is to release them on a free transfer, and take the finacial hit of paying up the rest of their contract, unless they agree to a mutual release.

It makes no sense that teams would turn down half decent players for nothing, except wages of course, but I think you are right I will have to release them at the end of the season, if no offers come in.

I currently have two players in my reserves that have been available for £0 for the last three seasons. Apparently, no club in the world is willing to come in for them. Not one. Ever. It's really realistic.

It makes no sense that teams would turn down half decent players for nothing, except wages of course, but I think you are right I will have to release them at the end of the season, if no offers come in.

While I haven't experienced this yet, as I play in the lower leagues. There do seem to be many reports of people (and AI alike) unable to shift unwanted players because of high wages. I just find it odd that not at least some clubs try to negotiate with a cheap or free player.

Should there not be more russian/middle-eastern/chinese clubs going for older stars on huge wages? .. instead of them retiring at 32 after a year without a new contract.

Well, my own experience is of being unable to sell Benik Afobe after he scored 101 goals in 131 games over 3 seasons for my Redditch United team. This is in the Blue Square Premier, League Two and League One. I hoped to get about £4-5m for him and I couldn't get a single offer - even at around £1m. He also had 9 goals in 16 international appearances for DR Congo. He's on £1400 a week (ie bugger all) and has barely played for 2 seasons. I've been offering him for £0 for over a year and there are no takers.

In real life, clubs would be clamouring for a striker with that kind of goal record - he's still only 27 now. Anyway, his contract is up at the end of the season and I'm confident he'll end up retiring.

SI, this reputation system of yours... it's not working.

Agreed, Shake Appeal.

I have tried to sell this player the last three transfer windows:

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So he is a good Championship-player on a 12kpw wage, two years left on his contract and with a base value of 1.6 millions currently. I set him to 5 mill and list him without offering him out, wait a week or two before offering him out for 2,5 then base value - yet no-one is interested. He was told to go and agreed.

He should be of great interest for all the CH clubs excluding perhaps the top 5-6 teams, given his PL experience and skill. But can they afford him? Is he too expensive?

I took a look down in CH and at least half of the clubs there had already defenders with similar wages and ability, while the other half had mostly players with 3-5kpw. I suspect those clubs which could afford him don't see him as a strong enough player for that money, and the rest have no money so they can't sign him even though they should. A good CH-player should be good for Adelante and Serie B as well as many top divisions in smaller leagues, and there should be plenty of clubs that could afford him there but won't be aware of his existence since he is not a big-name player.

He would be an excellent player for any League One team but for them he is likely unrealistic. I would certainly not sign him in Championship, not for that price and not for that wage demand. All in all, I think it only makes sense that no-one wants this particular player.

However, that there is no interest for this guy either;

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...just because he was injured a few months until December and thus hasn't played football for half a year... That's just silly. Don't they look at past performances?

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Maybe the players just doesn't want to move to clubs that may want that player. The club knows this and thus won't make a bid... That's how I see it, anyways. Else it wouldn't make any sense to me and would drive me nuts

this is happing since the second patch i believe , its very annoying

Maybe the players just doesn't want to move to clubs that may want that player. The club knows this and thus won't make a bid... That's how I see it, anyways. Else it wouldn't make any sense to me and would drive me nuts

Yes the problem is precisely reputation. The range of reputation in which a player is willing to go down is too short, and the range of reputation in which clubs will look both up and down is also too short. So small clubs in L1 and CH won't look in L2 and BSP for players that might make the jump, and they won't look up to the top of CH and PL to find players that might want to make the drop either.

Another issue is the economy in the game. Most clubs start out with a healthy balance which disappears the first season and never comes back, which begs the question how they managed to build up that balance in the first place. The managers offer too lucrative contracts to their players, so after a few years many clubs will pay a lot of money for little quality.

This is why the only new clubs to enter the big club spectrum after the first decade are those with a sugar daddy. Without one the AI can't make, say, Middlesborough or Sheffield Wednesday into a perennial title contender even though such a thing is quite likely to happen in the future. The structures with which the AI can plan so far ahead are simply not present, so they don't actually have ambitions.

I think the solution is to formalize AI transfer policy twice a year, so that they are hardwired to get rid of a certain number of players and sign new ones that are (hopefully) better. Right now it seems they auto-renew all existing contracts and simply let go of those they fail to renew, and that's what's really causing this.

Yes the problem is precisely reputation. The range of reputation in which a player is willing to go down is too short, and the range of reputation in which clubs will look both up and down is also too short. So small clubs in L1 and CH won't look in L2 and BSP for players that might make the jump, and they won't look up to the top of CH and PL to find players that might want to make the drop either.

Another issue is the economy in the game. Most clubs start out with a healthy balance which disappears the first season and never comes back, which begs the question how they managed to build up that balance in the first place. The managers offer too lucrative contracts to their players, so after a few years many clubs will pay a lot of money for little quality.

This is why the only new clubs to enter the big club spectrum after the first decade are those with a sugar daddy. Without one the AI can't make, say, Middlesborough or Sheffield Wednesday into a perennial title contender even though such a thing is quite likely to happen in the future. The structures with which the AI can plan so far ahead are simply not present, so they don't actually have ambitions.

I think the solution is to formalize AI transfer policy twice a year, so that they are hardwired to get rid of a certain number of players and sign new ones that are (hopefully) better. Right now it seems they auto-renew all existing contracts and simply let go of those they fail to renew, and that's what's really causing this.

I agree with all except the third paragraph. How often in premier league football has a smaller side such as Middleborough or, to a lesser extent, Sheffield Wednesday become a PERENNIAL title contender? I can only remember back to mid 80's and at that time Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal were the only really consistent title challengers. Then of course along came Man Utd and only Arsenal provided competition year on year until Chelsea got their own "sugar daddy". Now of course Man City also have a sugar daddy and could potentially become consistent title challengers. Spurs look a half decent side over the past couple of seasons but cannot be considered to have mounted a serious title challenge as of yet.

Basically in nearly thirty years I cannot remember a side going from outside the premier to perennial title challengers without serious investment from a sugar daddy.

However, all that being said there is no doubt AI squad building and player development needs improving somehow.

I agree with all except the third paragraph. How often in premier league football has a smaller side such as Middleborough or, to a lesser extent, Sheffield Wednesday become a PERENNIAL title contender? I can only remember back to mid 80's and at that time Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal were the only really consistent title challengers. Then of course along came Man Utd and only Arsenal provided competition year on year until Chelsea got their own "sugar daddy". Now of course Man City also have a sugar daddy and could potentially become consistent title challengers. Spurs look a half decent side over the past couple of seasons but cannot be considered to have mounted a serious title challenge as of yet.

Basically in nearly thirty years I cannot remember a side going from outside the premier to perennial title challengers without serious investment from a sugar daddy.

However, all that being said there is no doubt AI squad building and player development needs improving somehow.

Well yes I agree with you here, but clubs improve very little in FM - and certainly not "above their station". So since reputation does not improve unless the club wins stuff, any given club is stuck precisely where they were in the beginning - although poor performances can lead to dropped reputation especially upon relegation. The AI managers builds neither team nor club like we do, and so we are the only ones who actually change stuff. I would like to see every club in the game aim to be the best club in their league, then the best in their country once that is achived, then the best in the world. Only one of them will succeed at this but all of them should try! Right now they don't even bother, and that's what I dislike with the current reputation-based AI... there's no-one who is rude, so to speak, they just politely accept their current standing in the world and let nobility be nobility. So profoundly English!

IRL no-one wants Tevez

If a player is on high wages then this will put prospective clubs off. However......

I would like to see clubs come in fir players and then if contract negotiations fail over salary then an option arise, as current, for you to contribute to player wages

I agree with O{ that there should be more clubs interested in class players when available for free. Drogba would obviously be snapped up. Something wrong perhaps then with player reputation

I find this frustrating too, but then i see other players IRL whose contracts are mutually terminated for not finding another club when under contract.

IRL at my club Cardiff, defender Gabor Gypes has been listed for over a year now but he hasn't gone anywhere when he could still do a decent job in the Championship. His contract's just been terminated mutually and I think he might be moving to Kilmarnock. Clubs can often be more willing to sign a player if unattached as there's less chance of him turning down an offer.

But it can be frustrating with players who are good enough to play almost anywhere in Europe, especially when clubs say that the £3m asking price for an excellent CF is too high...

IRL a lot of clubs want Tevez, but are not willing to pay the asking price. Surely in the game the clubs should come in with an offer lower than your asking price and start negotiations from there, not just say no clubs are interested.

that is man city being greedy

in the game man city players have insane wage demands so can't be signed.

no reason for my players that i dont want to not go.

In the BSP, it is now January in the first season, and I want to get rid of some of the players in my squad who eats up most of my wage budget (I can get so much better for the same wages). Now I offer some to clubs and transfer list them for £0.

One lower-ranking club passes up on one of them, because they believe his wage demands will be too high .... how about negotiating with the player before giving up??

I think it is too hard set.

"Oh this player is too high reputation, so we won't even try to sign him." or

"He probably still wants £100k/week in wages, lets not bother to even ask him about getting less, but Key Players status, instead of rotting in the Reserves for 3 more years"

Also the players might be too set on NOT taking wage cuts or playing for lower reputation teams.

the players only take wage cuts when theyhave acctually left the club i have noticed.

i was trying to get babel in with contract offers when he had 6 months left at hoffenheim, he didnt move from like 86k was his lowest. after a month sat in the job centre he accepted 64k

that is also how i missed out on sturridge, waiting for him to bring his wages down, he also lowered his demands enough for lowly swansea to scoop him up.

Well yes I agree with you here, but clubs improve very little in FM - and certainly not "above their station". So since reputation does not improve unless the club wins stuff, any given club is stuck precisely where they were in the beginning - although poor performances can lead to dropped reputation especially upon relegation. The AI managers builds neither team nor club like we do, and so we are the only ones who actually change stuff. I would like to see every club in the game aim to be the best club in their league, then the best in their country once that is achived, then the best in the world. Only one of them will succeed at this but all of them should try! Right now they don't even bother, and that's what I dislike with the current reputation-based AI... there's no-one who is rude, so to speak, they just politely accept their current standing in the world and let nobility be nobility. So profoundly English!

So true. For this reason my saves never seem to go beyond 10 years as the challenge lessens a little each year it seems. However in my current save I'm determined to see through 25 years minimum and because of this I, for the first time, am going to install FMRTE to improve rival clubs after 10 years in game. Can't see my interest holding out otherwise.